Smoker&#39;s golf accessory

ABSTRACT

A golf accessory for support of a cigar or cigarette while on a golf course or in a golf cart, the accessory having a lower base forming a golf tee spike, a vertically oriented ring structure attaching above the lower base, an inner curved press member within an upper portion of the ring having an upper shaft including a bias spring urging the inner curved press member downward towards the bottom of the ring, wherein a cigar or cigarette may be inserted within the ring structure and held secure by the inner curved press member holding the cigar or cigarette in a horizontal position, with the lower base golf tee spike being inserted in the ground, retaining the cigar or cigarette above the ground while the golfer takes his swing or held within a tee holder in the golf cart.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Applicant claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent No. 62/122,092, filed on Oct. 11, 2014, by the same inventor.

I. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

A golf accessory for support of a cigar or cigarette while on a golf course or in a golf cart, the accessory having a lower base forming a golf tee spike, a vertically oriented ring structure attaching above the lower base, an inner curved press member within an upper portion of the ring having an upper shaft including a bias spring urging the inner curved press member downward towards the bottom of the ring, the upper shaft having a ball tee structure at an upper end above the ring structure which, when pulled upward, retracts the inner curved press member against an upper portion of the ring structure, wherein a cigar or cigarette may be inserted between a lower portion of the ring structure and a lower margin of the inner curved press member holding the cigar or cigarette in a horizontal position, with the lower base golf tee spike being inserted in the ground, retaining the cigar or cigarette above the ground while the golfer takes his swing.

2. Description of Prior Art

A preliminary review of prior art patents was conducted by the applicant which reveal prior art patents in a similar field or having similar use. However, the prior art inventions do not disclose the same or similar elements as the present tobacco product holder, nor do they present the material components in a manner contemplated or anticipated in the prior art.

The patent to Petrone, U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,285, discloses a spring means, but is on the lateral side of the tee, which is basically a carved wooden structure. FIG. 6 in that patent discloses a partial ring, but has no association with the spring means. Knudsen, U.S. Pat. No. 5,909,735, discloses a curved trough with what appears to be a spring arm securing the cigar within the horizontal trough. While not defining a spring, column 2, at line 43, the patent specification calls the “retractable clamp 60 made of a slightly resilient or spring-like wire material which acts to retain a cigar against the seat 41 of the oblong member 40 . . . ” Sheffield defines a ring on a spike, but has no spring means to secure the cigar or cigarette within the ring, nor to adjust the inner diameter of the ring to accommodate different ring sized cigars or cigarettes in U.S. Patent Publication 2006/0157071. The Donne patent application, published as U.S. Publication No. 2009/0082127, also defines a ring, but no adjustment within the ring.

II. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Golfers who smoke or partake in the occasional fine cigar on the golf course do not often take their golf swing while holding a cigar or cigarette in their mouth and cannot hold their smoking article in their hands. Most often, they leave their cigarette or cigar on the ground or look for some place to lay their smoking article while they take their swing. Laying a smoking article, especially a fine cigar, on the ground risks contamination by turf products and chemical or exposure to moisture, since golf courses are constantly watered to promote course growth. As indicated by the prior art, many solutions have been proposed to provide a golf accessory which holds a smoking article above the turf. The problem with most of the prior art is that the disclosed golf accessories do not secure the smoking article and the smoking article can blow or simply fall off the accessory, with few providing any retaining means and none providing a retaining means which adapts to the diameter of the smoking article. Specifically, as cigars come in a variety of ring sizes, none provide a variable retention means which automatically adapts to nearly every ring size or common smoking articles. The present golf accessory does so, having a spring loaded upper arm which retains any article which can fit within the ring and compress the diameter of the ring without deforming the smoking article.

III. DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following drawings are informal drawings submitted with this provisional patent application.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the golf accessory with a cigar held within the accessory.

FIG. 2 is a front and rear view of the golf accessory with the upper compression bar at a fully lowered position.

FIG. 3 is a side cross sectional view of the golf accessory with a cigar held within the accessory.

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view of the golf accessory of FIG. 2 with a cigar held within the accessory.

FIG. 5 is a view of the golf accessory holding a cigar with the lower spike of the accessory inserted within a spike holder of a golf cart.

IV. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

An accessory 10 for securing a cigar 100 or cigarette for a golfer, shown in FIGS. 1-5 of the drawings, comprises a circular support ring 20 defining a hollow center 22 within an inner ring surface 24, an outer ring surface 26 defining an upper spring shaft aperture 28 traversing the support ring 20 from the inner ring surface 24 to the outer ring surface 26, the outer ring surface 26 of the support ring 20 further depending a lower spike 30, and an upper compression member 40 defining an upper knob 44 at the top 46 of a spring shaft 40, and a compression bar 50 at the bottom 48 of the spring shaft 42 with a compression spring 60 placed upon the spring shaft 42 between the compression bar 50 and the inner ring surface 24, urging the compression bar 50 away from the upper spring shaft aperture 28 in the inner ring surface 24. The accessory 10 retains the cigar 100 or other smoking article within the hollow center 22 between the compression bar 50 and a lower section 25 of the inner ring surface 24, as shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 5. The upper compression member 40 is presented with the compression spring 60 in an extended position, FIG. 2, which is the closed position and the position in which the accessory 10 is presented without a cigar 100 held within the accessory 10, or in a relaxed state. In FIGS. 3 and 4, the accessory 10 is shown in an active state, with a cigar 100 held within the accessory 10, which would indicate a closed position or a compressed or retracted position. The terms indicated as to the position of the upper compression member 40 may be used interchangeably.

The entire accessory 10, with exception of the compression spring 60, may be made of plastic, wood or other solid material. As indicated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the upper spring shaft aperture 28 may also define an inner spring recess 29, within which an upper portion 62 of the compression spring 60 may be inserted and retained, with a lower portion 64 of the compression spring 60 extending beyond the inner ring surface 24, urged against an upper surface 52 of the compression bar 50, with a lower surface 54 of the compression bar 50 being conforming to and directed against the cigar 100 or other smoking article. For purposes of this specification and claims, the term “cigar” 100 will define any elongated smoking article, including a cigar, cigarette, or other “legal” elongated smoking article including electronic cigarettes or a pipe shaft.

Most commonly, cigars 100, within the confined definition by those who smoke them, come in a variety of ring sizes, which is a term used in the industry to define the diameter or cross-section of a cigar. These ring sizes most commonly range from a size 32 to a size 50, and the cigars may be presented with a circular cross section or, for pressed cigars, an upper and lower flat surface and two side rounded edges. They may be cylindrical or tapered along a length and are presented in short and long lengths. Cigars come in very inexpensive convenience store varieties which are smoked over a very short period of time up to extremely expensive cigars which are enjoyed over periods of several hours. It is anticipated that this device is not ideally suited for the cheap cigars. However, for those that are purchased at a high cost, a smoker would prefer not to simply lay a cigar on the dirty ground or risk having it fall from an unsecured placement and become damaged. Thus, the anticipated preference for the present smoker's golf accessory would be found in use with more expensive cigars or smoking articles that are smoked over a long period of time, which would include the completion time to play of an eighteen hole golf course, averaging about four hours for completion. It would also be suited for golfers who do not want their smoking articles on the ground or falling from the golf cart during operation, a golf cart 200 seldom including an ashtray. However, they almost always provide a golf tee holder 205 somewhere near the dash of the golf cart 200, FIG. 5.

Typical operation of the accessory 10 would involve lifting the upper knob 44 to raise the compression bar 50, inserting the cigar 100 under the compression bar 50 within the hollow center 22, releasing the upper knob 44 allowing the compression bar 50 to press against the cigar 100, capturing the cigar 100 between the lower surface 54 of the compression bar 50 and the lower section 25 of the inner ring 24 within the accessory 10. The variable nature of the compression spring 60 allows the compression bar 50 to fit cigars 100 in a variety of ring sizes within the single holder, as it is intended to retain. The lower spike 30 is then either inserted into the ground or may be placed in the tee holder 205 in a golf cart 200, FIG. 5, or other tee receiving receptacle formed within another golf accessory. The accessory 20 is used to keep the cigar 100 from being placed on the ground, dropped or in the way of the golfers movement as the golfer takes his stroke during a golf game or operates his golf cart.

Although the embodiments of the cigar golf accessory 10 have been described and shown above, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that numerous modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as herein described. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An accessory for securing a cigar or cigarette for a golfer during a golf game preventing the placement of the cigar on the ground or resting unsecured in a golf cart, said accessory comprising: a circular support ring defining an inner ring surface providing a hollow center and a lower section, an outer ring surface defining an upper spring shaft aperture traversing said support ring from said inner ring surface to said outer ring surface, said outer ring surface of said support ring further depending a lower spike; an upper compression member defining an upper knob at a top of a spring shaft, with a bottom of said spring shaft connecting a compression bar; and a compression spring placed upon said spring shaft between said compression bar and said inner ring surface, urging said compression bar away from said upper spring shaft aperture in said inner ring surface, wherein said accessory retains said cigar securely within said hollow center between said compression bar and said lower section of said inner ring surface, said upper compression member providing said compression spring in an extended position, when no said cigar is present or when said cigar is retained and retracted position, which is the position when a cigar is being inserted within said accessory.
 2. The accessory, as disclosed in claim 1, said accessory further comprising: said upper spring shaft aperture defining an inner spring recess, within which an upper portion of said compression spring is inserted and retained, with a lower portion of said compression spring extending beyond said inner ring surface, urged against an upper surface of said compression bar, said compression bar providing a lower surface contoured to and directed towards said cigar.
 3. The accessory, as disclosed in claim 1, said accessory further comprising: said hollow center is provided to accept a cigar having a ring size between 32 and 50, said compression spring contracting and expanding to retain said cigar of variable ring sizes in a secure manner.
 4. The accessory, as disclosed in claim 1, said accessory further comprising: said lower spike is alternatively inserted into the ground with said cigar oriented horizontal to the ground or placed in a tee holder provided within a golf cart or in another golf tee receiving receptacle formed within another golf accessory, whereby said cigar is elevated above the ground preventing said cigar from being placed on the ground, dropped or in the way of the golfers movement as the golfer takes his stroke during a golf game or while the golfer operates his golf cart when placed in said tee holder of said golf cart.
 5. The accessory, as disclosed in claim 1, further comprising any other element contained within the specification. 